Episode Summary

Cindy comes home in tears after a bully, Buddy Hinton begins picking on her because of her lisp. One afternoon, Peter encounters Buddy teasing Cindy and defends her, but gets a black eye in the process. After, Mike and Carol try to reason with Buddy's parents but get nowhere, Peter goes into training, so he can defend himself, if Buddy picks a fight.

Heartbreaking for me

I hated this particular episode, but for personal reasons. When the show first aired, I was about the same age as Cindy, have 5 older siblings (although all 6 of us - 3 boys & 3 girls - are full siblings), and had a lisp. The popularity of this show among my schoolmates gave them fodder for bullying and teasing, Not only did I get the "baby talk" bit, I was constantly called "Cindy Brady". I haven't seen the episode since.moreless

Baby Talk, Baby Talk...

"A Fistful of Reasons", what can I say about this episode? While I found it heartbreaking to see Cindy being picked on for speaking with a lisp, I thought it was really nice to see the Brady clan rally around to help Cindy out with the mean bully Buddy Hinton.

When the episode started out, we find Cindy coming home from school, ignoring Alice when she asks how her day went. When Carol and Mike ultimately find out the reason why she is crying and not her usual self; it was at this time that Cindy reveals that the school bully has been making fun of her for talking with a lisp. What I found heartwarming at this part of the plot was how the members of the family went about their own ways to help Cindy with her bully problem; Mike and Carol helped her out by teaching her various tongue twisters, while the boys wanted to stick up for Cindy by fighting Buddy; which didn't go as plan at first, with Peter getting a black eye from the bully.What I found interesting at this point of the episode was when Mike learned of Greg and Peter's plan of fighting; he tried to talk the boys out of it, saying that it would be better to reason with Buddy than fighting. What I found kind of funny at this point was how after Mike told the boys that, he went to talk to Buddy's father with that philosophy fresh in his mind, only to have what he said not turn out the way he expected. In the end, what I truly enjoyed about this episode was when Peter stood up to Buddy, not only did he get the boy to stop picking on Cindy by having to fight him, Cindy ultimately lost her lisp, thanks to the help of the tongue twisters she was reading and then helped Buddy see that what he did to her was wrong.Ultimately, I found this to be a well written episode, showing that it is alright to stand up to a bully to show them people are not scared of them and that it is ok to stand up to their heckling.moreless

A really good episode.

This episode is an awful episode for Cindy since she gets teased about her lisp. I like the fact that the whole family tries to help Cindy with practicing Tongue Twisters to help her lisp. Peter standing up for Cindy is amazing since he gets hit for reasoning with Buddy. Mike and Carol backing down from Buddy's parents because they are getting bullied themselves is kind of stupid. When Peter is getting help from the family it is funny because Alice punches Mike in the stomach. The end of the episode was kind of predictable because you could tell that Peter would punch Buddy. I think it's awesome that they chose to make Buddy learn his lesson from getting a lisp himself and getting teased about it.moreless

QUOTES (2)

Carol: So you want Peter and Buddy to fight?Mike: No, I don't want them to fight. I'm just saying that if Buddy throws a punch, Peter doesn't have to just stand there like a sitting duck.Carol: Stand there like a sitting duck?

This episode makes the poignant obsevation that school bullies are usually the product of homes with big bullies. This after both Mike and Carol make separate attempts to speak with Buddy's parents on the matter and get nowhere (Mr. Hinton is a big bully, while Mrs. Hinton basically says nothing).

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